How the Unbirthday Began

When I was pregnant I told Brandon that I wanted to celebrate an unbirthday - just one out of the 364 unbirthdays of the year. I thought the 1/2 year was a fun mark because I remember how proud I always was to say ".........and a HALF!" as a child. It means something. So for a little while - until Tristan grows weary of my antics - we'll celebrate his 1/2-year. Little did I know at the time that Unbirthdays would have such a big role in my life and I would be wishing another preemie mom "Happy Unbirthday" on their due date (after baby is already here) on a regular basis.

However, I have a toddler now. He was born premature, but I don't feel like he is a fragile thing whose age needs to be adjusted anymore. Most of the time. I still have my moments. But as I've been writing here - those moments are less frequent. I feel more like a Professional Prematurity Awareness Advocate - cool title, right? I don't want other mums to ever go through what I did, but because we can't stop prematurity (yet) the least we can do is raise awareness. Prematurity Happens. And now I have a slogan. Last year I didn't do anything for his 1/2-year because he was still a preemie but it's been a year and it's time to move forward. He won't remember that. What he will remember are the things I do each year to make the day special. ...and today was a blast! He helped make his cake for later and then we hit the streets.

Running through Wonderland

I have been wanting to take him to the Pop-up Garden sponsored by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society for weeks and thought what better time to visit? They keep odd hours but they meshed perfectly with our morning adventure time (9-noon these days). It was so much fun! There was grass to sit in, hula hoops, bean bags to stack, and of course lots of beautiful flowers and installment art. Worth the visit before it pops up somewhere else next year.

Our visit to the Dr. Marten's shop - both in our boots!

There is a very cool mom who passed on her Baby Docs to me - and they finally fit! I was so excited for us both to be rocking a pair and as luck would have it we passed right in front of the 'new' Dr. Martens store on Walnut on our way to the Pop-up. I hadn't been into this one - and what better day to visit than on his Unbirthday? Docs in Philly (well, everywhere, but especially Philly) are tied in with The Dead Milkmen and "Punk Rock Girl." This is a song I've sung to Tristan since he was a baby except I switch up the lyrics to "punk rock baby" and "one day we took a walk to Zipperhead, we met another baby she almost knocked me dead - punk rock baby, let's go slam dance, let's travel round the town just you and me in our Babyhawwwwk." - or whatever, I mix it up. "We called up Wise Guys Pizza and ordered a pesto chicken - they said we'll zoom it over, don't shout anarchyyyyy!"

We rock, I'm telling you. It's literal.

Finishing his autumn mobile made from bark collected after a storm.

Because of the light doze he took while I was picking out a few things from the H&M sale (pink lace A-line dress - totally punk rock - and a monster-robber tee for Tee) he was bushier than usual so he worked on finishing his art installation.

His halfyear (1/2) cake - I thought he'd dive in but instead he picked up the proper utensil. ??!

What's an Unbirthday without an uncake? It's only half a cake but it was a whole lot of fun. He cut us slices and then perched on his high chair saying "mmmmmmmmmmmmm" yeah, sugar high! It was a blast.